Laser ablation depth profiling of U-series and Sr isotopes in human fossils

We have explored laser depth profiling to obtain data sets for U-series as well as Sr analyses. Laser probing with an 81 μm spot size allows for the exploration of low uranium domains of up to 400 μm below the outer surface in tooth enamel. These low U domains will contain Sr isotope compositions of the individual, that are least affected by diagenetic Sr overprints. The small holes drilled for U surveying are not visible to the naked eye. Using larger spot sizes of around 233 μm, laser drilling can be used to obtain reliable U-series isotope data to a depth of approximately 1000 μm in enamel and around 1300 μm in bone. Furthermore, meaningful ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotope data can also be obtained with this spot size. Using our sampling strategy, the overall damage to a human tooth is minute, as demonstrated on a Neanderthal tooth from Moula-Guercy. We expect that laser ablation depth profiling will become routine for gaining insights into the age of human fossils and the migrations of ancient humans.     

Pests in an ancient Egyptian harbor

Our investigations combine detailed identification and interpretation of plant remains and associated fauna and their mode of arrival in one of the rock-cut galleries, Cave 3, at the site of Mersa/Wadi Gawasis on Egypt’s Red Sea coast. The site served as a staging area and harbor from which Middle Kingdom pharaohs launched seafaring expeditions to the land of Punt in the early second millennium BC. Quantities of wood, including ship timbers, fastenings, debris related to ship dismantling and reworking, and charcoal were excavated and analyzed. Evidence of marine mollusk infestation (shipworm) was abundant in Cave 3, as were the remains of insect pests of stored foods. We also report on a unique find of a plaster “spill” that preserved the floor of Cave 3 as it was when people worked in the gallery ca. 3800 years ago. The plaster spill created a sealed deposit of plant and insect remains with a diagnostic ceramic fragment, allowing us to securely associate insect remains and “hollow” spikelets of emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum) recovered from the gallery. An impression of the beetle Trachyderma hispida and its associated exoskeleton fragments provide new evidence of this species as a potential pest not yet reported from an archaeological grain storage site in Egypt. The finding of Tenebroides mauritanicus from the same deposit is the earliest known association of this pest with stored grains. These unique finds shed new light on the risks associated with preserving food supplies, combating pest infestation, and dealing with marine organisms on land and at sea in the pharaonic harbor.     

Natural hazards and religion in New Orleans: Coping strategies and interpretations

Socially disadvantaged people are more vulnerable and exposed to the effects of extreme natural events and the social disasters which follow. This article presents the coping strategies and cultural creativity of the most vulnerable (non‐conformist African American religious/spiritual) communities in New Orleans today and in the aftermath of Katrina. Rituals and religious practices play an important role in resilience‐building and for relief and recovery from disasters. Case studies are presented to demonstrate how these devotions, and the community‐building and mutual support that take place as a result (as well as individual practices), have assisted practitioners in their struggle for survival during Katrina and the yearly hurricane season. The article also examines how natural hazards are perceived and reflected in religious explanations and expressions, as well as in spiritual arts, and how they lead to change and adaptations. Here, affected people are not regarded as ‘passive victims’ but as creative and active agents.     

Restructuring old industrial and inner urban areas: A contrastive analysis of state policies in Great Britain and Germany

This paper deals with two outstanding forms of state intervention devised to cope with structural change in old industrial areas: Urban Development Corporations (UDCs) in Great Britain and the Emscher Park International Building Exhibition (IBA) in the Ruhr district in Germany. In Sections 2 and 3, we deal with UDCs and the IBA separately, concentrating on their history, objectives, modes of operation, financial arrangements, and their relationship with other heal and state agencies. Furthermore, these two policies are related to the general political and social situation in Britain and Germany. In Section 4, we compare the IBA with UDCs directly, discussing whether these schemes can be considered a success with regard to their own objectives. Of particular importance is the role of the local level and the opportunity for various actors, interest groups and public bodies to participate in the process of restructuring. Finally, we reflect upon the implications for planning in general emanating from the IBA and UDCs. One important result of our research is that the very broad approach behind the IBA — despite certain inherent contradictions — will do more justice to the multi‐faceted problems of old industrial areas than the concept of ‘regeneration’ behind UDCs.     

Prestige und gemeiner Nutzen Universitätsgründungen im deutschen Spätmittelalter

The medieval German university entered the picture late but thereby as a new and third type of university in Europe besides Paris and Bologna: This was the ruler-controlled ‘Four-Faculties-University’, which powerfully integrated the socially very different associations of liberal arts, theology, medicine, and law. From the beginning on the ‘German type’ was tied to the princely founder, his court, his dynasty, and his territory (in some cases also to the municipal leadership), and it was politically subjected to his will. All foundations produced prestige and dynastic need at first rather than public need (utilitas publica), respectively the advancing of common learned education and science. The great royal dynasties of Luxembourg, Habsburg, and Wittelsbach began founding in Prague, Vienna, and Heidelberg. Up to 1506 all the seven prince electors, some more important princes and big towns of the Holy Roman Empire had their university or had relations to a university. Public need was rather an indirect result: university students utilized surprisingly strongly the possibilities offered by the subsequent university foundations in Germany - about 200.000 people during a long-term 15^th century. However, it has to be thought over in the history of science and effectivity of the German universities in a European frame, that more than 80% of them were ‘only’ students of arts.     

Provenance of Early Bronze Age metal artefacts in Western Switzerland using elemental and lead isotopic compositions and their possible relation with copper minerals of the nearby Valais

Ten Early Bronze Age (BzA1, 2200–2000 BC) copper artefacts from the central Valais region from Switzerland were studied for their elemental composition and lead isotope ratios. In order to answer the archaeological question of a local copper supply, a database for copper minerals across the Valais (Switzerland) has been established. This database contains 69 data on lead isotope ratios as well as additional information on the minerals and geochemical associations for copper minerals from 38 locations in the Valais. Comparisons of the artefacts were also made with data pertaining to minerals from various deposits from Europe and Anatolia taken from the literature. The provenance of the materials is very diverse. Some of the data are compatible with the data from the copper mineral deposits of the Valais region. Moreover, three copper lunulae were identified as possibly Tuscan, which suggests contacts between Italy and the Valais region. This pattern also establishes a multiplicity of provenances for the metal and cultural influences in the Alpine environment of the Rhone Valley of Switzerland at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age.